NewsWrap
for the week ending June 17, 2000
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #638, distributed 06-19-00)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge,
Martin Rice, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia
Chappelle]
Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Greg Gordon
A Japanese court took a strong stand this week for privacy regarding HIV
status. The plaintiff had been tested without his knowledge at the request
of his employer as part of a regular company physical exam, and was laid off
soon after it was learned that he is HIV-positive. For the first time in
Japan, the medical facility that performed the test, specifically one of its
directors, was ordered to pay damages. For only the second time, the man was
ordered reinstated in his job. Plastics processor Takigawa Chemical
Industries Limited of Ichikawa, Chiba was ordered to pay 3.1-million yen in
lost wages and 2-million yen damages; the director of the Ichikawa Municipal
Higashi Hospital was ordered to pay 1.5-million yen damages, for a total
award equivalent to about 62,000 U.S. dollars.
A similar case was filed this week in Tokyo District Court against the city's
Metropolitan Police Department. A police recruit was required to give blood
for testing he did not understand would include an HIV test. When it was
found he had HIV, he was barred from the police academy and told that he
could not handle police work. He is seeking 12-million yen in damages.
The parliament of Cyprus this week replaced anti-gay language in its sexual
offenses law. In 1998, Cyprus finally decriminalized private homosexual acts
between consenting adults, five years after Alecos Modinos won a lawsuit in
the European Court of Human Rights and only after a series of threats from
the Council of Europe. But as it grudgingly acted for decriminalization, the
parliament retained offensive and discriminatory language, translated as
"unnatural licentiousness." This week, while many opposed legislators walked
off the floor of the House of Deputies in protest, the offensive terms were
replaced with the phrase "intercourse between men."
Modinos said the 1998 law "did not put the homosexual person on an equal
footing with the heterosexual. I hope that with this amendment homosexuals
will be dealt with as equals and as first-class citizens like the rest of the
population, and that only the criminals will be punished, whether they are
homosexuals or heterosexuals."
Two groups this week came out against programs purporting to convert gays
and lesbians to heterosexuality. The annual conference of the powerful
American Medical Association adopted a resolution opposing psychiatric
therapies that assume homosexuality is a mental disorder and therapists who
suggest gays and lesbians change their sexual orientation. Similar
resolutions had previously been adopted by the American Psychological
Association and the American Psychiatric Association.
The Australian Psychological Society also adopted a statement against
therapies which attempt to change sexual orientation. While the Australian
Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights would have preferred a stronger statement,
its spokesperson Rodney Croome felt the psychologists' position would serve
to convince "those with good intentions but little knowledge" -- such as
mainstream church groups -- not to support change therapies.
The Australian state of Tasmania has at least 120 laws that discriminate
against same-gender couples relative to unmarried heterosexual couples. That
was the testimony of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group before the
state's Parliamentary Community Development Committee, which is carrying out
an inquiry in relation to the Significant Personal Relationships Bill now
pending before the state parliament. Rights Group spokesperson Jarrod Bryan
offered documentation of discriminatory laws on a wide range of topics
including inheritance, pensions, taxation, compensation for accidents and
natural disasters, property division on dissolution, guardianship, funerals
and autopsies, legal testimony, licensing, and even the Anti-Discrimination
Act. He called for one omnibus bill to amend all the discriminatory laws to
recognize gay and lesbian couples.
Just such a bill was introduced this week by the Government of British
Columbia. The province already has some of the most equitable laws in Canada
for gay and lesbian individuals, partners and families. But the Definition
of Spouse Amendment Act, Bill 21, will amend a wide range of laws to ensure
gay and lesbian couples the same legal status as unmarried heterosexual
partners.
This week Dane County became the first county in Wisconsin to extend
spousal health care benefits to the domestic partners of its unmarried
employees, regardless of gender, by a vote of the Board of Supervisors. A
similar move at the state level failed in the Wisconsin legislature this year.
The Iowa Board of Regents voted 5-to-3 this week to extend spousal health
insurance benefits to the same-gender partners of gay and lesbian employees
of the University of Iowa. Those employees have been able to purchase the
coverage since 1993, but now the University will make the same contribution
as it does for married couples. Although the cost will be a tiny fraction of
the University's nine-figure budget, the move comes at a time when the state
has cut millions from the system's funding, and some regents predicted a
political backlash.
A Nevada group filed petitions this week for a constitutional amendment to
deny legal recognition to same-gender marriages another state may someday
perform. In each of the state's 17 counties, the Coalition for the
Protection of Marriage was able to collect two to four times as many
signatures as needed to qualify for the November ballot, although it may take
two weeks for officials to certify them. A survey has found that twice as
many voters favor the marriage ban as oppose it. If the measure succeeds
this year, it would require a second vote in 2002 to be enacted. The
initiative is receiving significant financial support from the Mormon Church.
But a similar measure passed by a landslide in California this year has not
changed the tide of public opinion towards tolerance, according to a survey
released this week. It had been feared that the successful campaign for
Proposition 22 would stir up anti-gay sentiment, but the survey seems to
indicate it actually raised awareness of the issues confronting same-gender
couples. Compared to a similar survey last year, this poll found a drop in
opposition to same-gender marriage from 57% to 50%. Disapproval of gay and
lesbian couples dropped from 44% to 38%, while nearly two-thirds of
respondents were either favorable or neutral towards them. The number who
believe the reason for same-gender marriages would be "to allow couples to
express their love and commitment to their partners just as heterosexual
couples do" jumped by 10% to nearly half. There was also a 10% jump in those
who believe strongly that same-gender couples can be good parents, against an
8% drop in those who reject the idea. About two-thirds of respondents
believe there will be civil marriage for same-gender couples in their
lifetimes.
A primary election in South Carolina this week appears to have ousted the
only openly gay Republican elected official in the South. David Schwacke had
already served five years as Solicitor for the 9th Circuit when he was
essentially forced out of the closet by the leaders of the Charleston County
Republican Party in 1997. That group had supported his candidacy in 1992 and
in 1996, when he was unopposed in both the primary and general elections. At
their instigation, he was investigated on allegations of downloading
pornography on his office computer and of intervening in the prosecution of
an acquaintance for having gay sex with underage teens, although a grand jury
refused to indict him. This week, Ralph Hoisington appeared to have defeated
him with the campaign slogan "For Our Families" and promises to aggressively
prosecute "sexual predators." The margin was less than one percent,
triggering an automatic recount. No one doubts that homophobia played a role
in this outcome.
But perhaps the most surprising news in U.S. politics this week was a
former staff member's revelation that Reform Party Presidential hopeful Pat
Buchanan might like much-protested anti-gay radio talk show host "Dr. Laura"
Schlessinger as a running mate. Pundit and former Cabinet member Buchanan is
noted for his vitriolic anti-gay "culture war" rhetoric. StopDrLaura.com
leader John Aravosis could only say, "Pat Buchanan and Laura Schlessinger is
a match made in -- well, it's a match." Continuing nationwide protests
against Schlessinger's upcoming syndicated TV show will be held in at least
five more cities in July.
A group that commended Schlessinger's opposition to homosexuality was
protested by more than 100 gays and lesbians and their allies this week. 28
demonstrators were arrested in a planned civil disobedience as the Southern
Baptist Convention's annual conference further codified its anti-gay
positions. The protest action was organized by gay Reverend Mel White's
nonviolent Soulforce group and included members of several denominations.
Reverend Ed Harris, a gay retired Southern Baptist pastor, was the first to
be arrested for "unlawful assembly." Six protesters were released on bond
while the other 22 remained in jail at least overnight until an initial
appearance before a judge. Inside the convention hall, conference delegates
adopted a revised Baptist Faith and Message statement, the denomination's
core document short of Scripture, for the first time in almost 50 years. The
new statement includes the admonition that, "Christians should oppose ... all
forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality and
pornography."
And finally... Sir Elton John fired off an uncharacteristically stinging
reply to Archbishop of Glasgow Cardinal Thomas Winning this week in "The
Standard". Winning had written in an article last week that "gay sex is
wrong, because such behavior is not good for the human person," and that "Far
from liberating a person it ensnares them in a lifestyle that can never
respond to the deepest longings of the human heart." In his letter to "The
Standard", Sir Elton demanded to know, "From what practical perspective does
he form this point of view? As a Cardinal and presumably a celibate and
solitary individual, how can he possibly be in a position to judge?" Sir
Elton, who has long had a partnership with David Furnish, proudly proclaimed,
"As a gay man I am perfectly happy with my sexuality and my life. I can
honestly say that the deepest longings of my heart are satisfied."